How was your Thanksgiving? I was SO looking forward to a long weekend and it did not disappoint. Between Thanksgiving meals with family and friends, pulling out Christmas decorations (and getting a tree!) and spending a ton of time in the kitchen, it was just the type of weekend I needed. I hope yours was equally satisfying.

My time in the kitchen was a great mix of recipe testing (for YOU!) and following recipes. And now we have a whole fridge full of traditional Thanksgiving food, turkey pot pie soup, lentil & cauliflower soup AND everything to make this spinach salad.

This salad is a copycat of a salad from one of our favorite LA pizza spots! DeSanos is a great restaurant in Hollywood with delicious wood-fired pizzas AND it’s an appropriate place for young children to run around, so it’s one of the few places we can go these days.

And given our limited restaurant choices, I’m so glad I love their food! The pizzas have a thin, but perfectly chewy crust with amazing and minimal toppings. As much as I love pizza (a lot!) I always like to supplement pizza with salad. And this spinach salad is my favorite. After having it about 12 times, I realized I could easily make it at home. So I did!

It’s a perfect winter salad and in my mind, there is not a season that should go by without salads. #eatyourgreens

Spinach is a nutrient-dense green, higher in antioxidants than most lettuce and full of all sorts of good vitamins and minerals.

But equally as important as nutrition (in my opinion) is the flavor and there are so many great components in this tasty spinach salad: spinach (dressed with an easy balsamic vinaigrette); artichokes (quickly roasted); mushrooms (for earthy flavor and texture); parmesan (for salty flavor); and dried cranberries (for a hint of sweetness).

Nothing fancy, nothing complex but when combined together, it makes for an irresistible salad that can hold its own against pizza – and that’s saying a lot.

It’s our new standard salad for pizza night – at home and out. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Stuffed peppers are not a meal that I grew up eating yet they taste like comfort to me. And as the weather is (finally!) starting to take a fall-like turn, it’s just the kind of meal I want this time of year.

It’s warm and cozy, gooey and cheesy and wholesome all at the same time. Is there a better combination? I don’t think so. AND! Demi (my #1 taster these days) happily gobbled this up, peppers and all.

In true TJ’s for dinner fashion, ingredients are minimal, flavor is NOT lacking and it comes together in about 20 minutes + some time in the oven.

Then dinner is on the table, and everyone is happy. Or at least that’s the ideal. How do you guys handle meal time as a family? Eat together? Kids eat and parents eat later? We have not mastered this and Demi eats about 2 minutes after we get home from picking her up and then Richie and I eat after she goes to bed. Not eating as a family is the one big mom guilt I have, so I’d love to hear how you handle dinners as a family!

So turkey stuffed peppers – here are the ingredients: turkey bolognese (or use simple turkey sauce), microwavable brown rice (or make the real deal), cheese, peppers (organic if possible, peppers are on the dirty dozen list) and some arugula or other greens for a simple side salad to round out the meal and add that extra dose of green vegetables. Easy peasy.

If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you know that when it comes to meal prep, lunches are my biggest struggle.

Here’s the deal: lunches need to be different, most likely salads, full of vegetables, have a decent amount of protein, and not be leftovers. So I need to make two different lunch salads, for a total of 4-6 of them on any given week. (I post my weekly lunch salads on instagram – @emilygdingmann – if you’re interested!)

I tried to simplify once by making sandwiches instead of salads, thinking that it would require less prep time, but then one week I found myself chopping up vegetables in teeny-tiny pieces, for a special veggie cream cheese for vegetarian sandwiches. I was wrong. So I’ve gone back to my standard lunch template: 2-3 salads (from scratch) + 1 frozen meal + 1 meal out. Depending on the week and depending on what’s going on, things can certainly shift, but it helps me to have a general framework week after week.

A lot of my lunch salad inspiration has been coming from cookbooks and blogs lately, but this one came from a cafeteria. Our offices at work moved and they are now located in the middle of a really walkable neighborhood (Westwood!) with tons of lunch options, food trucks, delicious take-out AND a cafeteria on the lobby floor. The salads from the cafeteria are SUPER basic and nothing special, but after seeing a coworker have the “chicken special” eight days in a row, I decided to venture from the salad menu and try it out. The “chicken special” is a slight variation of the same thing every day: a thin chicken cutlet + sauce (and maybe a few frozen veggies) + white rice + a side salad. The salad leaves a lot to be desired, and the veggies were seriously lacking, but I loved the idea of this simple meal for lunch.

So I ended up making my own, adding TONS of vegetables and turning it INTO a salad. It was delicious. Filling, super nutritious, and with the combo of chicken (protein), lots of vegetables, rice (fiber and whole grains) and peanut dressing (fat and flavor) it’s oh-so-satisfying.

It still requires some prep and work, but you could also take some shortcuts:

Two of my most-popular posts OF ALL TIME are TJ’s for dinner meals! ‘TJ’s for dinner’ are my easy meals that are thrown together in a few minutes, with a few ingredients from Trader Joe’s. Clearly we like and need these types of meal ideas so I decided to dedicate a whole series of posts to them. They aren’t really recipes in the classic sense – no ingredient lists or step-by-step instructions – just dinner inspiration.

In the previous posts, I’ve created a few ‘rules’ for TJ’s for dinner meals. The important rules are: 5-ingredients or less and they must contain a vegetable. Most of the time, I’ll follow these rules, but because I don’t really ever adhere to food rules, I may stray from time-to-time.

Enough of the details, let’s get to the meal: pollo asado tacos, my favorite black beans, and red pepper strips. I tried a new-to-me product for this meal – pre-marinated meat. I’ve always been leery of the pre-marinated meats. I’m not really sure why, because it turns out there is nothing to fear. It’s a great shortcut for flavorful meat without any prep or ingredients. And the pepper strips? My standard desperate vegetable – they don’t really require any prep and they don’t need any dressing, dip, etc.

There are a few different components going on for this dinner, but they all come together quickly.

Black Beans: heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add 1/2 (so 1/4 of the onion) of the diced onion and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add black beans and liquid (DO NOT DRAIN BEANS!) and some chopped cilantro if you’ve got it. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until liquid has thickened. Remove from heat and set aside.

Tortillas: heat as desired. I love to heat them over my gas burner, but you could also heat over the grill, hot pan or microwave.

Then simply assemble the tacos. Layer meat, avocado and diced onion into the warm tortillas and serve with beans and peppers on the side.

If you have any requests for this series, please let me know. Are you interested in vegetarian options? Chicken as a main? Low-carb? Slow cooker? I’ll do my best to come up with what you need. (And I love a good challenge!)

Hi, I’m Emily

I spend my days working to ensure that low-income families have enough nutritious food and my nights doing the same, but for my family. I love playing in the kitchen, creating simple, fresh and nutritious meals. My husband and I live in LA (via Wisconsin) and are new-ish parents to one-year-old baby girl, Demi! Read More…